I always thought Tom Cruise was self-obsessed and had an ego which was way too big for his size - and in case you needed any further confirmation of this, well, just ask anyone in Germany who tuned in to see the 59th annual Bambi Awards (the German equivalent of the Oscars) which took place in Dusseldorf at the end of last week. Tom received the "courage" award, for his latest movie "Valkyrie", that deals with a plot mastered by the German resistance that aimed to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944.

The Bambi judges said: "Tom Cruise is making an international public familiar with a story that has never before been the theme of a major Hollywood production - the German resistance against the Third Reich". Well, that may all be great - however, I'm sure at least some of those judges had second thoughts, seeing how Tom acted like he had just been awarded the "Best Human Being In the Galaxy" award, and reportedly bored the audience at the German event with a long acceptance speech.

His rambling monologue (which was dubbed over in German to be broadcast on TV) was over five minutes long (imagine that!). Halfway through, the crowd prematurely clapped, but the Cruise stayed on stage and continued his speech. "Tom talked about how gracious and welcoming the German people had been to him while he was filming 'Valkyrie', and then spoke about his meager childhood and how he moved around a lot with his mother while he was growing up. He then launched into a lengthy talk about following your dreams, or something" one German viewer said.

"When the camera panned out many of the audience looked bored and perplexed. When he returned to his seat, Katie smiled slightly and looked down, you could tell that she was embarrassed by how over the top he was". Well, yes, but it wasn't like there was anything anyone could have done about it - except probably put his name down on the same list Paris Hilton is and make sure he never steps into Germany again for a long time. I have a feeling it won't work, though - Tom's Scientology training might have given him special teleporting powers. Oh well - it was just a thought...